Blood Diamond 2006

Blood Diamond is a 2006 American war drama film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou. The title refers to blood diamonds, which are diamonds mined in war zones and sold to finance conflicts, thereby profiting warlords and diamond companies around the world. Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War, the film depicts a country torn apart by the struggle between government loyalists and insurgent forces. It also portrays many of the atrocities of that war, including the rebels' amputation of civilians' hands to discourage them from voting in upcoming elections. The film's ending, in which a conference is held concerning blood diamonds, refers to a historic meeting that took place in Kimberley, South Africa, in 2000. It led to development of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which sought to certify the origin of rough diamonds to curb the trade in conflict diamonds; the certification scheme has been mostly abandoned as ineffective. Blood Diamond was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on December 8, 2006.